Scotland
We went to Scotland twice. The first time, I gave a talk there. We had the same experience that we'd had at the University of Kent in Canterbury. At three minutes to eight, only three students had shown up for the eight o'clock talk. Then we saw a girl coming. We were hoping for a familiar face. She looked like one of our disciples in New York: her hair, her dress, her walk. "Look, Devaji," Alo said, "there is B." But it turned out to be a stranger. There was no one that we knew. Then at one minute to eight, eighty or ninety people poured in.
Then I gave my talk. It was very well received, with thunderous applause. In many places my talks received thunderous applause; here also.
One of the important questions was, "Do you think the Christ was a realised soul? Do you think he had any spiritual Light or Power? Do you think he was spiritual? I don't think so. I want to have your opinion." This was a young boy who had stood up to ask the question. He obviously felt that Christ was nothing. That was his understanding, and he wanted me to see eye-to-eye with him.
I said, "Unfortunately I cannot be at one with you. I feel that I have realised the Christ, so l can't say that he didn't have Light, that he didn't realise God. How can I say that when I know definitely who Christ was, what Christ is? He was one with the Divine Consciousness and the Universal Consciousness. How can I say that he was nothing and that he is nothing? If your realisation says that he was nothing, then you will have to be satisfied with it. But my realisation says that Christ is spiritually unique."
"Do you really mean it?" he continued.
"Mean it? This is my realisation," I stated. "How can I say Christ was nothing, when I know what Christ is?"
Then another fellow took my side, but added, "Christ is the only Saviour."
"O God," I replied, "I have told you that I have fully realised the Saviour Christ, who is really the Son of God. He has infinite Light and infinite Consciousness. Now you say that Christ is the only Saviour. This is going from one extreme to another. One extreme says Christ was nothing, was absolutely useless. The other extreme says that he is the only Saviour. If Christ is the only Saviour, then I don't know what Sri Ramachandra, Sri Krishna, Lord Buddha, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo and other spiritual Masters did on earth. I am sure that they also did something. If you say that Christ was a Saviour, immediately I must answer, 'Certainly he was.' But if you say, 'He was the only Saviour,' then I have to say that Krishna had something to offer to humanity. Rama, Buddha, Chaitanya, Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo and Ramana Maharshi also offered something to humanity."
I continued, "If you say Christ is a Saviour, I am with you, but if you say he is the only Saviour, I must part company with you. The Supreme is the only Saviour. If you want to know who is the only Saviour of humanity, I say, 'God, the Almighty, the Supreme.' He is the only Saviour. The individual souls are also Saviours: Christ, Krishna, Buddha, etc. They are great Masters, too. An individual soul, a great Master, can be a Saviour, but the one true Saviour is the Absolute Supreme."
Krishna, Christ, Buddha and the others started with the human consciousness, and they achieved the Universal Consciousness. They are within us. They are for us. They are humanity's greatest pride and the Supreme's greatest Pride.
Yet before Christ, prior to two thousand years ago, Existence was there. Before Buddha, Existence was there. Before Krishna also ... thousands of years ago ... Existence was there. Then what happened? Did the world cease to exist? If so, how are we alive today? Before the Saviour Christ, the world existed. That means that Somebody was saving the world, and that Somebody is the Absolute Supreme.
So let us not go from one extreme to another. All these great Masters are Avatars of the highest rank and all—Christ, Krishna, Buddha—are divine instruments of the Supreme.
